How can I participate in the hastening of the Lord’s work?

How can I participate in the hastening of the Lord’s work?

We live in the last days, when the Lord is fulfilling His promise: “Behold, I will hasten my work in its time” (D&C 88:73). Young women play an important role in this work. We can participate by inviting all to come unto Christ through sharing the gospel, giving Christlike service, strengthening new members, rescuing the less active, and providing saving ordinances for the dead.

Teaching in the Savior’s way

The Savior asked questions that caused His followers to think and feel deeply. They knew He loved them, and they felt safe sharing their thoughts and personal feelings. As you sincerely listen and show interest in the young women’s answers and insights, you will help them to feel the Savior’s love.

Share experiences

At the beginning of each class, invite the young women to share, teach, and testify about the experiences they have had applying what they learned in the previous week’s lesson. This will encourage personal conversion and help the young women see the relevance of the gospel in their daily lives.

Introduce the doctrine

Choose from these ideas or think of your own to introduce this week’s lesson:

Write the word hasten on the board, and ask someone to read Doctrine and Covenants 88:73. Invite the young women to discuss what it means to hasten something (if necessary, they could look the word up in a dictionary). Ask the young women why they think the Lord’s work needs to be hastened in our day.

Write on the board, “What is the Lord’s work?” Invite young women to come to the board and write possible answers to this question. Encourage them to add to this list as they learn more during this lesson.

Learn together

Each of the activities below will help the young women discover how they can participate as the Lord hastens His work. Following the inspiration of the Spirit, select one or more that will work best for your class:

A few days in advance, ask the young women to visit theHastening the Work of Salvation section of LDS.org and review some of the resources there. Invite them to come to class prepared to share something from the site that has inspired them to participate more fully in the Lord’s work.

Invite each young woman to read (individually or in small groups) one of the stories in Sister Carole M. Stephens’s talk “We Have Great Reason to Rejoice.” Or they could hear an experience from a ward member who recently joined the Church or recently returned to activity. If the young women read the talk, ask them to summarize the stories for the rest of the class and discuss what they learn about participating in the Lord’s work. How do these stories help us see how we are participating in the work of salvation?

Write questions like the following on the board: What can young women do to participate in the Lord’s work? What helps you feel the excitement and urgency of the work? How are your experiences preparing you to participate in the work? Ask the young women to read the scriptures suggested in this outline to help them answer one or more of these questions. Invite them to share what they find.

Read together the list of “help wanted” signs in Sister Linda K. Burton’s talk “Wanted: Hands and Hearts to Hasten the Work.” Invite the young women to pick items from the list and make signs that invite people to participate in those aspects of the Lord’s work. Encourage them to include on their signs some of the qualifications for doing this work and the blessings that come from it. Invite them to share their signs and to share experiences they have had participating in the Lord’s work.

Ask the young women to share what they learned today. What feelings or impressions do they have? Do they understand how they can participate in the hastening of the Lord’s work? Do they have any additional questions? Would it be helpful to spend more time on this topic?

Teaching tip

“You can demonstrate that you are listening by displaying an expression of interest. You can look at the speaker rather than at your lesson materials or other things in the room. You can encourage the speaker to complete his or her thoughts without interruption. You can avoid jumping into conversations prematurely with advice or judgments” (Teaching, No Greater Call [1999], 66).

Live what we are learning

Invite the young women to consider how they will live by what they have learned today. For example, they could:

Invite a friend to a Mutual activity or another Church event.

Use FamilySearch.org to find ancestors who have not been baptized and confirmed. Go to the temple to receive those ordinances for their ancestors.

Share their testimony of the gospel with a friend or family member.

Share with the young women what they will be studying next week. What are their thoughts and questions on this topic? What can they do to prepare to learn? For example, they could read a talk, watch a video, or study a scripture related to next week’s lesson.

Thanks to Susan over at Susan Fitch designs for the great artwork I was able to use for this years Primary theme!

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Disclaimer:

This is NOT an official site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Click here for the Official Site Although this is NOT an official site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have tried to uphold the doctrine and standards of the church. Many of the ideas on this web site are things I have used throughout the years or things I have collected Some are ideas that others have let me post. If you find something that is copyrighted or you know who came up with the idea, please let me know and I will give the proper credit or take it off.